Employee benefits

We offer our staff 25, 27 or 30 days annual leave (depending on salary grade). This increases to 30 days for all staff regardless of grade after five years of service (unless covered by a separate Local Agreement). Part-time staff are entitled to a pro rata proportion of the above number of days depending on working hours.

These Computer Share Voucher Services are available to all staff (male and female) who have parental responsibility for a child. As the charges are taken from your salary before any deductions are made, it is a very tax-efficient way of paying for childcare. Savings can be as high as £2,000 each year.

Many of our staff are part of the Flexi-time scheme for their hours of work and most full-time (37 hours per week) staff and part-time staff are entitled to participate in this scheme. This scheme allows staff to accumulate time, either by having a shorter lunch break, starting earlier or finishing later. Staff can build up time to gain an extra full or half day off during each four week period.

The council is very committed to good workplace health. We have previously received the Health at Work award. Our Workplace Health Group has launched a number of initiatives to encourage staff to take a positive approach to health. These include a health screening programme that provides many staff with valuable advice about their health.

The council has also teamed up with Cyclescheme Ltd the UK's number one provider of tax free bikes, to provide a Cycle to Work Scheme as outlined in the Department for Transport's Green Transport Plan initiative. The scheme allows employees who meet the eligibility criteria to take advantage of tax savings when obtaining a bicycle and other accessories. In effect the council buys the bicycle and any additional equipment on behalf of the employee and deducts the cost from the employee's gross salary, usually over a 12 month period. Employees benefit from income tax and national insurance relief and can typically save 32% of the retail cost of a bicycle.

We offer a discounted membership for staff at the Westgate Leisure Centre in Chichester. The leisure centre provides a wide range of facilities such as a state-of-the-art multi gym, swimming pool, spa, squash and badminton courts, a variety of classes and a cafe.

To encourage staff to keep fit and healthy, we also offer an extra 30 minutes each week to be taken during a lunchtime to use the Westgate facilities. In addition, regular yoga classes are held near East Pallant House, where most office staff work.

All employees, including temporary staff, can join the pension scheme which is part of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Please see the LGPS website for detailed information. It is a funded scheme with defined benefits based on career average earnings and guaranteed by law. These include:

The council encourage staff to pursue training and professional qualifications. All staff have an annual appraisal and during their appraisal their training needs are discussed and an action plan agreed for the year ahead.

Most professional bodies charge a membership fee. As the council feel it is advantageous to belong to these professional bodies we will pay for one professional subscription per employee where it is clearly beneficial for the post holder to be part of the professional body concerned.

The council expects its entire staff to deliver excellent services. But we do know that sometimes staff go further than that to help our customers.

The Staff Awards Scheme exists to recognise staff who have "gone the extra mile". The awards are given to staff who have performed above expectations, delivered an exceptional service, demonstrated particular initiative, competence, commitment and/or resourcefulness.

Staff are encouraged to nominate colleagues in their own teams or individuals or other teams within their directorate at Team Briefings. There is a limit of £1000 per annum paid in Amazon vouchers.

Training and development needs are identified corporately (for example, equalities or recruitment & selection training for managers) and by line managers and individuals through annual appraisals.

There is a wide ranging corporate training programme in place, including induction and management development programmes. As well as direct delivery training, we offer on-line training to staff via Learning Pool. The council also supports a large amount of professional qualification training.

Interest-free loans are available for annual rail season tickets to assist employees to use public transport for their journeys to and from work.

An interest-free loan is also available for staff to purchase a bicycle.

Staff may purchase a monthly car park ticket at a very competitive rate: currently from £30.10 per month. The ticket can be requested direct from the Payroll team and can be deducted direct from your salary.

A number of staff have to travel across the district in order to do their job and unlike many other local authorities we offer a flexible and generous car-loan scheme (subject to eligibility).